< 2 Samuel 21 >

1 And a famine occurred, during the days of David, for three years continuously. And David consulted the oracle of the Lord. And the Lord said: “This is because of Saul, and his house of bloodshed. For he killed the Gibeonites.”
There was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Jehovah. Jehovah said, "It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites."
2 Therefore, the king, calling for the Gibeonites, spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but were the remnant of the Amorites. And the sons of Israel had sworn an oath to them, but Saul wished to strike them in zeal, as if on behalf of the sons of Israel and Judah.
The king called the Gibeonites, and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them: and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.)
3 Therefore, David said to the Gibeonites: “What shall I do for you? And what shall be your satisfaction, so that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?”
And David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of Jehovah?"
4 And the Gibeonites said to him: “There is no quarrel for us over silver or gold, but against Saul and against his house. And we do not desire that any man of Israel be put to death.” The king said to them, “Then what do you wish that I should do for you?”
The Gibeonites said to him, "It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." He said, "Whatever you say, that will I do for you."
5 And they said to the king: “The man who unjustly afflicted and oppressed us, we ought to destroy in such manner that not even one of his stock may be left behind in all the parts of Israel.
They said to the king, "The man who consumed us, and who devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel,
6 Let seven men from his sons be given to us, so that we may crucify them to the Lord in Gibeon of Saul, formerly the chosen place of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”
let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to Jehovah in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Jehovah." The king said, "I will give them."
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord which had been made between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.
But the king spared Mippibaal, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Jehovah's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
8 And so the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom she conceived of Adriel, the son of Barzillai, who was from Meholath,
But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mippibaal; and the five sons of Merob the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
9 and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites. And they crucified them on a hill in the sight of the Lord. And these seven fell together in the first days of the harvest, when the barley is beginning to be reaped.
He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Jehovah, and all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest.
10 Then Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, taking a haircloth, spread it under herself on a rock, from the beginning of the harvest until water dropped from heaven upon them. And she did not permit the birds to tear them by day, nor the beasts by night.
Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured on them from the sky. She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night.
11 And it was reported to David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
It was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the secondary wife of Saul, had done.
12 And David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of his son Jonathan, from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had suspended them after they had slain Saul at Gilboa.
David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa;
13 And he brought the bones of Saul, and the bones of his son Jonathan, from there. And they collected the bones of those who had been crucified.
and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son: and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.
14 And they buried them with the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan, in the land of Benjamin, to the side of the sepulcher of his father Kish. And they did all that the king had instructed. And after these things, God showed favor again to the land.
They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. After that God was entreated for the land.
15 Then the Philistines again undertook a battle against Israel. And David descended, and his servants with him, and they fought against the Philistines. But when David grew faint,
The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines, and David became exhausted.
16 Ishbibenob, who was of the ancestry of Arapha, the iron of whose spear weighed three hundred ounces, who had been girded with a new sword, strove to strike down David.
And Dodo son of Joash, one of the descendants of the Raphah, captured him. His spear weighed three hundred bronze shekels, and he was girded with a new sword, and he thought he could kill David.
17 And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, defended him, and striking the Philistine, he killed him. Then David’s men swore an oath to him, saying, “You shall no longer go out to war with us, lest you extinguish the lamp of Israel.”
But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore, saying, "You must not go out to battle with us again, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel."
18 Also, a second war occurred in Gob against the Philistines. Then Sibbecai from Hushah struck down Saph, from the stock of Arapha, of the ancestry of the giants.
It came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gezer. Then Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, a descendant of the Raphah.
19 Then there was a third war in Gob against the Philistines, in which Adeodatus, a son of the forest, a weaver from Bethlehem, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like the beam used by a cloth maker.
There was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
20 A fourth battle was in Gath. In that place, there was a lofty man, who had six digits on each hand and each foot, that is, twenty-four in all, and he was from the origins of Arapha.
There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
21 And he blasphemed Israel. So Jonathan, the son of Shimei, the brother of David, struck him down.
When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah, David's brother, killed him.
22 These four men were born of Arapha in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and his servants.
These four were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

< 2 Samuel 21 >